Man Indicted In Death Of 2-year-old

A Broward County grand jury on Wednesday issued a first-degree murder indictment against a Fort Lauderdale man accused of beating a 2-year-old boy to death while the child was under state supervision.

Brian Woodard, 20, is being held without bond in the Broward County Jail.

Police say he beat his girlfriend`s son, Laron Montgomery, in a Fort Lauderdale motel, rupturing his spleen and damaging his liver and kidneys.

Woodard initially told police that Laron slipped out of an inner tube in the motel pool and was under water for several minutes.

But he later changed his story and said he was weightlifting in his room when a weight slipped off, hit the child and knocked him out, police said.

The boy`s death was another blow to the already reeling state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, which has been criticized for its handling of suspected child abuse cases.

Laron was under the protection of a child care worker who visited him just hours before his death. He was the fourth child under HRS supervision to die this year.

The grand jury has been looking into the quality of care for children who are HRS clients.

Laron was placed briefly in a foster home while HRS workers investigated complaints of possible abuse. The child eventually was returned home.

Just hours before the child`s death, an HRS worker visited the room at the Shorewinds Motel and Apartments, 500 N. Birch Road, where Woodard, his girlfriend, Kim Montgomery, and Laron were living. The worker found no reason to suspect abuse.

Later that day, Woodard brought the unconscious boy to the motel manager and told him to call an ambulance, police said. The boy was pronounced dead at Broward General Medical Center.